Cosmetic Cupcake

A quick post for you today to share 2 WONDERFUL packages I received from my lovely friend Christina a few weeks back!! she definitely made my week =) She spoiled me absolutely rotten yet again (the naughty thing!!) for my birthday and also gave me a wedding gift!! So much goodness where on earth to start xD


1st off is my adorable wedding present!! A Hello Kitty toiletry bag!! Seriously how freaking adorable is it???! My current toiletry bag is a GWP bag from Clinique and is on its last legs so this gift comes at the perfect time!


So much Erre Due goodness! Erre Due polishes are excellent quality and the special effect ones are especially awesome!! Not to mention the holo base coat too.


So many gorgeous polishes including Catrice Dirty Berry (SQUEAL!!), my 1st BB Couture and ESTESSiMO TINS!!


Eeeeeek thank you for my Nfu Oh lemmings Christina!!! Gosh I love the brand so much xD I've been dying to try their Jelly Syrup polishes for ages now and also their Aqua Base Coat.


Some UK polishes from her travels! How cute are the Top Shop polishes!! Also my 1st Sleek polish and a silver holo from 17. Christina knows just how much I love holos!!


Tommy G holo, glitter and special base coat! I'm very curious about the special base coat =D


NYX glitters which are my 1st NYX polishes actually!


Hello Kitty eyeshadow palette and polish! I sound like a broken record but they're so cute!! How could anyone say no to a Hello Kitty shaped polish bottle??


Some awesome NYX makeup products! I love their eyeshadows and jumbo eye pencils. I really wish NYX was sold in-store here - it's such a great brand at such good pricing.


Christina also sent me a beautiful Dior Holiday lip palette!! ♥ I love the shades but it's way too pretty to actually use lol.


Christina also sent me some of her beautiful handmade creations which you can purchase from her Etsy, Zibbet and Storenvy stores!!


I LOVE Christina's customised iphone cases and she kindly sent me a new Hello Kitty one!! You can purchase them from her online stores too. Her iphone cases and deco items are how we connected in the first place!


And lastly lots of skincare samples from Korres and Apvita!! Plus a gorgeous makeup bag too! I forgot to include the Korres makeup pack she sent me in this photo too.


Thank you dear Christina for the lovely packages!! ♥ You spoil me way too much!!

I hope you're all having a great start to the week! Thanks for looking as always =)

I was recently given the opportunity to review nail art products from Born Pretty Store. Many of you will have heard of them but for those who haven't, Born Pretty Store is a great online store that sells lots of fantastic nail art, nail care and makeup items. I've bought from them previously and I also won a giveaway for a voucher to the store so I've tried and loved their products already therefore I was very happy and excited to try out other products! Kevin kindly allowed me to choose some items and below is what I chose:

1800 nail art rhinestone wheel - which you can purchase here:


5 2 way dotting pen tools - which you can purchase here:


Hello Kitty & Snow White nail decals - which you can purchase here:


I decided to do a Hello Kitty manicure using the above products. I wish I had chosen white polish to do the dots instead of the yellow but oh well! I love me a good Hello Kitty mani ;)


I started off with 2 coats of Korres Watermelon (fully swatched here) on all fingers except accent fingers where I used 2 coats of China Glaze Empowerment.


The rhinestones are quite large - about 3mm in diameter - and come in an assortment of colours which is great. I placed a few of the rhinestones in different colours onto the middle of my thumbs using a wooden orange stick and clear polish. I have many rhinestones in different sizes but none this large so I'm very happy to add this wheel to my nail art collection.


The dotting tools are double ended and each is a different size. These are very easy to use to create polka dot nails which I love! The smaller sized ones are quite similar though and I would have liked to see more larger sizes. They are easy to use and great for beginner nail art!


For the dots for this manicure, I used the blue tool which creates medium sized dots.


I love water decals and these were fantastic to use. I've actually purchased water decals from the same brand last year when I went to HK (not from Born Pretty) and LOVED them and the quality of these was the same. They don't take long to soak in water before they are ready to use and can be manipulated on the nail if you don't get the perfect position right away. I need these water decals in every design possible x)


I used the Hello Kitty decals for this manicure and they are so so cute! They adhered easily and smoothly to the nail.


I also chose a stainless steel cuticle pusher remover to try out. Unfortunately this didn't work too well for me as I don't think it was curved enough to allow me to push back my cuticles properly. I'm used to using orange sticks to remove my cuticles and I find they work better.


Would I repurchase from Born Pretty again?: YES! I've purchased from them before and will do so again in the future. They have an absolutely fantastic selection of products (tooo many for this indecisive girl actually!) and I especially love the fact they have such a large range of nail art products. You all know my love of nail art and to be able to buy so many different items from the same site is great. The products arrive promptly and well packaged.

You can check out the great selection of products yourself at the Born Pretty Store online store.

A big thank you to Kevin for sending me the above products to sample! I was sent the above products for my consideration but this in no way influenced my review in any way. As always, my reviews are my 100% honest opinion.

Thanks for looking as always!

My rose manicure today is inspired by this gorgeous rose mani by Christina. As soon as I saw the mani she did for her friend I knew I would have to try it for myself! Roses are one of my favourite flowers (orchids are my favourite) and in combination with the glitter and red is just so so pretty.


I decided to use Korres Watermelon which Christina sent me in our latest swap. I’ve never tried Korres polishes so I was very excited when Christina told me she was sending me some my way. We can purchase some Korres products Down Under but they are pretty exxy (what isn’t beauty wise??) and I’ve never seen the polishes before online or in store.

Watermelon is a watermelon red crème. It is a beautiful pinkish red polish and I love it =) It is super pigmented and only 1 coat is needed for complete opacity!! The brush was very easy to use too – a little short but not difficult at all to handle. It applied very smoothly and I would have had no cleanup at all except I painted 2 fingers wonky. It dried very quickly and to a glossy finish. I love the shape of these bottles too! It was hard to capture the proper colour of Watermelon - it’s a little darker in real life than what’s pictured below.


As I don’t have the wonderful 3D rose stickers Christina used for her mani, I substituted by konading roses from Konad plate m13 using Konad Special polish in white on accent and middle fingers. I then used China Glaze Fairy Dust to add a diagonal strip of glitter on accent and middle fingers above the roses and painted remaining fingers with Fairy Dust. Topped it all off with a coat of Poshe Fast drying topcoat! Looking back I wish I had used a more dense glitter (like the Kate glitter Christina sent me!) but oh well.


Hope you like it! Enter my Polished Pink for October Giveaway here.

I want to start off this post by saying that the nail/beauty blogging community is fantastic to be a part of. I think it's so awesome to be able to bond with ladies from all over the world over a shared love of all things nails and beauty! Of course it's not always rainbows and butterflies in the blogging world but I think all you ladies ROCK! One of the many amazing ladies I've had the pleasure of getting to know is Christina from Cels deco nails. This lovely lady is one of a kind! She is an absolute sweetheart and I received another sweet package from her this week! It totally made my week, thank you Christina.


So many pretty items! I'll start with my order from Christina's Etsy store. I have admired and drooled over all the items in Christina's Etsy shop since day 1 - especially her deco iPhone cases. I didn't have an iPhone at the time but when I mentioned to her that my boyfriend was planning on giving me his old iPhone when the iPhone 4 came out(he got an iPhone 4 from work the lucky thing!) she generously offered to custom make me one with all the elements that I wanted which included Hello Kitty and bows. How could I turn down her offer??? She made 2 cases and this is the one I ended up choosing:


It looks even better in real life! It is kawaii, blingy and oh so beautiful and I can't stop showing it off x) I just love the cherry on Hello Kitty and the sparkly bow! Christina has 3 cases for sale at the moment in her Etsy store so do check them out. I am so very happy with my case =D I wish I had her talent and patience to do it myself but alas I don't!


I also ordered these adorable pink polka dot strawberry clips for my boyfriend's niece. She is selling these in red too which are just as cute if not cuter! I chose pink though for a princessy little girl. I really wanted the red pair for myself but I doubt I can pull them off!


Christina also very generously included 2 sets of her hand decorated falsies for me to try along with nail adhesive tape so that they can be reused. These are stunning - beautifully hand painted and decorated! She is selling lots of other beautiful nail designs in her store and I'm especially loving her Jack O' Lantern Halloween nails and the Gothic Black Japanese Style nails.


Christina also sent me some nail polish and nail art goodies mostly from her recent trip to Japan!

From L - R:
Visee RO 602, pa Nail Color Premier in AA12 and AA21, Kanebo BU-20 and Coffret D'or Gel Mode topcoat. The pa glitters are so cute! The pink one has heart shaped glitter in it which is so sweet. I'm very much looking forward to trying out the gel topcoat!


Some Essence nail art goodies (thanks to Christina's brother for picking them up!) and some adorable pa Halloween and floral nail stickers.


Nfu Oh 50 - my very 1st Nfu Oh polish!!!! Oh man this is beyond beautiful and a lovely suprise in the package. I am totally grateful to Christina for fulfilling this lemming for me!!


Korres Shine/Longlasting polish in Cyclamen and Watermelon. These colours are just gorgeous and perfect for the Summer! I'm a total sucker for pinks and reds and these shades are right up my alley. I can already picture the fruity manis I can do with these!


Some cute phone charms! I will need to purchase one of those charm holder thingos from Strapya methinks.


Greek food goodies! The fruity lollies are so yummy =D


Thank you once again Christina for this wonderful package. It came at a time when I was really stressed out from moving and everything else and it couldn't have been more perfect.

Thanks for looking ladies! Make sure to check out Christina's Etsy store! And don't forget to enter my Polished Pink for October giveaway here.